helefra wrote: I'm not going to tell you whether to make contact with your dad or not but I just want to share a story of mine that perhaps may help you in some way.
When I was a young thing, my dad tried it on with me once and when I told my mum, the police were involved, etc. Unfortunately there was no substantive evidence so the case was dropped. However, I still cared about my dad (just like you do) and visited him from time to time when he had moved out of the family home. My dad is a drinker and doesn't care about anyone but himself. He comes across as a friendly person and to everyone but when he talks to you on your own, he can really put you down.
As time moved on, I was with a boyfriend at the time and was living too far to visit my dad as regular as I used to. I got a job in 1992 working for Pontins which meant I was away for approximately 9 months and regularly wrote to my dad as well as my ex-boyfriend. Eventually I got fed up of writing letters to people because I was never getting a response, I never even got a response from my dad. However, my dad would welcome me if I did go to visit him but he would never write a letter to me or call me. So whilst I was working at Pontins, I made a decision, I decided I would write my dad one last letter and if I received no reply then I would disconnect from him. I felt that it was not worth visiting him or calling him if he couldn't be bothered to visit or write to me whilst I was at Pontins.
During all the time that I visited and wrote to him before I started work at Pontins, he never visited me or wrote to me. I must have spent a lot of money trying to get a communication from him (although money is never an issue when it is family). However, the hardest part for anyone who is close to a parent is having to let go because there is always that connection there. It was easy for me to let go of my dad probably because I lived at a distance from him and I had no strong bonding there.
I hope that my story has given you something to think about and good luck in what you decide.
Thanks mate. Sounds like it's been tough for you. That's the thing with bonds - weak or strong, they're still there but glad you were able to square this in your head:yh_hugs